May 2, 2022

Hi everyone!

It's a day early but we got to talk to Ethan for just a little bit today.  Ethan is going to Martin's Cove tomorrow.  The entire mission gets to go.  They will do some service projects and walk around.  Ethan had a great time doing this last year so he is excited.  They will leave their apartment around 5:15 am to drive up.  They asked the APs a couple of weeks ago if they could use the transfer van.  The APs forgot to ask the mission president so when Ethan reminded them, they told him to text the mission president and ask.  By that time, the transfer van wasn't available.  So they are all driving their own vehicles.  It will be a long day but it will be good.

Since they won't be in their areas tomorrow, they had time today to call home, do laundry, go grocery shopping, and do whatever else necessary to prepare for the upcoming week.  They ran out of money so they have been eating cereal and chicken for the past week.  A woman in their ward gave them a $100 gift card to King Sooper near them, so they were excited to go get necessities.  When Bryan asked Ethan why they ran out of money, Ethan answered with a grin: "Well, as Zone Leaders we need to build relationships with the missionaries in our zone by going to lunch with them.  That's how we minister to them."  Haha!!  They have their priorities!  Good thing the ward takes care of them.

The bishop in their ward pulled them aside the other day to chat with them. He has only been bishop for about 3 months and is young. Ethan said that most bishops don't really give them a lot of time. Bishops have enough on their minds and missionaries are already taken care of by the mission president.  But this bishop took the time to talk to them and Ethan appreciated it.  He asked if he could give Ethan and his companion the same advice that he gives missionaries leaving from the ward.  Ethan said he could and they had a good discussion about the endowment. He said it was nice.

Last p-day Ethan got to play pickleball.  His team didn't do too well. They lost 7-0 but had fun.

Ethan showed us his planning board on the wall of their apartment.  It was amazing, partially because it was legible!  haha!  Ethan didn't have very good handwriting when he left and now you can read his writing pretty well. They had all their goals listed out, the people who are on-date for baptism, the people who are being taught and what they need, the statistics for the week, etc.  It was fun to see how they plan.

Well, that's about it from Ethan.  We didn't get to talk to him for very long.  His companion needed a haircut and they were waiting for the text from the salon to tell them it was their turn.  When they got the text, they had to run.

Ethan is doing well.  Thanks for your prayers for him!